The Sony news and discussion thread

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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

@Kurt I hope for TLOU3 if only because it felt (to me) that TLOU2 set up the franchise as a trilogy of games with Ellie as the constant and other major characters cycling in and out of her orbit (Joel, Abby). The first two games, whether intentionally or not, seem to follow a "typical" trilogy arc. The first one setting up the world and being vaguely hopeful (the devastating ending aside), the second expanding that world, killing the "older mentor" character, and taking Ellie to absolute rock bottom, and then the third would (hopefully) answer the question of where Ellie goes from here, what does her life mean. She had meaning in the first game (a cure), lost it in the second, then replaced it with a new and ultimately meaningless quest (for revenge), and when Ellie realised vengeance was a hollow goal, the players were left with the question: where does Ellie go next? What's her purpose and what does she want? What future could she have?

I might be completely wrong, and hey maybe the sequel (if it comes) will be all about Abby or Lev or someone entirely new, with Ellie only having a cameo. But at present it feels to me there *needs* to be a third part to finish Ellie's story and to sketch out another corner of the world.

...Or maybe I'm just selfish because it's my favourite game series and so I'm inventing reasons for a third game. Who knows.

As for Sony... I mean, it's tricky. I like third person action adventure games the best, and I'm still green enough when it comes to modern games to be easily impressed with games like that. However, moving away from more left-field exclusives, like "The Last Guardian" or "Gravity Rush", makes me anxious. Rumours of a new "Uncharted" game also make me anxious (UC4 had a beautifully definitive ending - if there are more UC games, smaller spin-offs centering around Drake's friends or former enemies, like "Lost Legacy", would be more welcome to me than another mainline game).

Ultimately, Sony makes more exclusives I want to play and that's why they've hooked me as a loyal customer. I don't have great internet, so things like GamePass can't appeal to me yet, and the only XBox exclusive currently on the table that makes me sad I don't have an XBox is the "Hellblade" sequel. Whereas Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games, and Guerilla are making things exclusively for PS, and Rockstar and Square Enix games are multiplatform and I can play them on the PS. I have a PS and a Switch, and that's already a lot - an Xbox or a gaming PC would be another expensive commitment. And at the moment, PS and Nintendo give me more reasoms to remain buying their products.

Sorry for the long ramble. I do get sad if Sony are moving away from more adventurous, experimental game. Yes, I am a huge Naughty Dog fan. But not every studio should be making ND-style games. It's more fun when there's variety.

Sorry for that long Pollyanna-ish ramble.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Jon Cheetham »

I love both the TLOU games but remaking the first one is pretty absurd. It's just so safe and conservative. I want TLOU3 or a spinoff with Abby and Lev, for one thing, but more importantly new IPs and experiences. There's something a bit depressing about such a recent game being remade just so it can have ray tracing and be sold again at £70.

I'm not usually one to bemoan the "state of gaming" and so on, when there's too much good stuff coming out of both AAA and indie for me to even keep up with, but this just seems particularly weird and creatively bankrupt.
Marlew
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Marlew »

I would much prefer a PS5 update to TLOU2 first, but I will buy this regardless. It is very odd, though.
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Alex79
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

I'd prefer a tight 10-12 hour side story game, similar to Lost Legacy.
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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

Alex79uk wrote: April 9th, 2021, 5:55 pm I'd prefer a tight 10-12 hour side story game, similar to Lost Legacy.
I want a Sam and Sully spinoff but I'm resigned to the idea that any future UC property will probably be Cassie or Young Nate.
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markfm007
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by markfm007 »

I'm in the same boat as you all, I've enjoyed Sony's exclusives this generation, but it's easy to see a case of diminishing returns and increasingly conservative choices setting in. As much as I've enjoyed them I'm burnt out on Uncharted and Last of Us, although I would like to see some sort of final chapter to Ellie's story too.

I'm also a bit concerned about a game like the Last of Us being remade already. Not just commercially but also because it creates a weird dynamic. It's one thing to remaster a game, as you aren't fundamentally changing anything, or to create a remake so different that the original still stands on its own, like Resi 2 or FF7. I'll enjoy either of those in the right circumstances. But constant 'remakes' could lead to a George Lucas type situation, where every new format leads to needless tweaks and updates that dilute the original rather than actually offering anything.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I was never a fan of The Last Of Us... It's kind of in that genre of "misery porn" made by nihilistic Gen Xers. Really don't get on with that sort of game, and even having played it, I genuinely don't understand why it's so highly regarded. It's just a miserable, utterly misanthropic experience.

The remake, that said, is likely more in line with the Rachet and Clank remake... It'll be like a movie tie-in to go along with the movie or TV show or whatever it is they've planned.
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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

Aware that maybe should move this to a more relevant thread, but really can't understand TLOU getting tagged as nihilistic. To me TLOU is deeply empathetic and often hopeful. It's depressing and violent, yes, but there's an emphasis on encouraging the player to understand and empathise with complex, flawed humans. As cheesy as it sounds, huge importance is placed in the game on the importance of making connections with other people, which makes me sceptical of labelling the game as misanthropic. In the first game, Joel's entire character arc revolves around him being an angry, traumatised misanthrope who slowly comes to view this random kid he's been lumbered with as a daughter whom he loves fiercely. But Joel not being "fixed" by this love and still making some horrible, complicated decisions influenced by the harsh world he is in is what keeps the game from being kumbayah and saccharine. I think it's a very intelligent game that understands and explores human nature in a way a lot of other AAA games I've played have sone somewhat superficially (which I know sounds pretentious and I know TLOU is flawed but... yeah).

Not trying to change your opinion - it's not a game that will appeal to everyone - but just to give an example of why I personally regard it so highly, and why I consider calling the game misanthropic/nihilist/misery porn to be a mischaracterisation. And there's other stuff the games do right that other AAA titles often don't, which helps with the high regard: many interesting and realistic female characters with a variety of body types (this is a big one for me personally), great sound design, smooth gameplay, great music, LGBT representation, atmosphere etc etc

Actually the TLOU games are the ones I return to whenever I feel sad or blue and want some comfort gaming, haha. Maybe that says something bad about me...

I'm hoping for a remaster rather than a remake because I don't want to lose the fantastic performances from the original game.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by ratsoalbion »

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Miririn.
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Jon Cheetham »

Agree as well, great post.
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markfm007
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by markfm007 »

Well said!
Marlew
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Marlew »

Very well expressed, and much more respectful than the original post.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Yeah, what Marlew said
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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

Ah no you're all very kind but I don't have a problem with the original post - I just wanted to offer my views on it from the (admittedly a bit bizarre) perspective of someone who plays these games for comfort. My closest gamer friend (who was the one who got me into gaming and whose
opinions on games are waaaay more knowledgable/objective than mine) actually has very similar opinions to Isopod and often will argue with me about my dogged loyalty to these games, haha. So I'm very used to these debates and I probably blah-ed on too much in response to an innocuous comment. (If you want to see a disrespectful response to a game, please see my completely unfair and unhinged anti-Triss rant in the "Witcher 3" thread - I have my own prejudices and biases!!)

And TLOU games are admittedly extremely dark and depressing (why I'd go with "depressing rather than nihilist") - I think Honest Trailers on YouTube had a joke where they summed up the first game along these lines: "a game featuring: dead children, torture, murder, suicide, more dead children!" I don't personally agree with the categorisation of "misery porn", but I can definitely see why some people consider the games to be so. If you list everything that happens in the games, they do seem almost impossibly bleak (especially the sequel).
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Alex79
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

Miririn wrote: April 9th, 2021, 6:07 pm
Alex79uk wrote: April 9th, 2021, 5:55 pm I'd prefer a tight 10-12 hour side story game, similar to Lost Legacy.
I want a Sam and Sully spinoff but I'm resigned to the idea that any future UC property will probably be Cassie or Young Nate.
Oh yeah I thought about a Sam and Sully spinoff too, but I meant I'd like spinoff story in TLOU world. Maybe like how the Fireflies came out or fell apart, something like that.
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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

Oh man I didn't even think about that. That would be really cool. I really like the world building in these games - towns controlled by gangs of robbers, large wild areas with scattered groups of good survivors and bad, a large city divided by a land war. I would love more peeks into different parts of America and what happened in those places. Ditto the flashbacks to things like the Fireflies. If any sequel continues Abby and Lev's story, we may get some more Firefly stuff.

My problem with UC games is that Nate could come off as a bit smug/wish-fulfillment-y at times, so I like the idea of a game centering around flawed-but-sympathetic Sam and grouchy, ready-to-retire Sully and their bickery adventures. But if Sony wants new fans of the new film to pick up the games, I think they will probably go young rather than focusing on their middle-aged characters. Which is a shame for me, because I loved Sam.
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Angry_Kurt »

I’m not against the idea of a Last of Us 3 as it is a really good world they have built up and I liked both games, particularly the second. But before they do a third, personally I would just like to see Naughty Dog make a new IP so by the time TLOU3 comes around there is a huge appetite for it.

The way uncharted 4 ended
Spoiler: show
It made me pretty sure that the next game will have you playing as Drakes daughter, otherwise why go to the effort of making a character model and voice for her and not just have a generic looking baby to show that Nate and Elena had a kid together?
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Alex79 »

I'd like to see Naughty Dog make a pirate adventure. I know Uncharted 4 was almost that, but full on historical, cinematic, linear pirate story.

I'd also love Rockstar to do a big open world pirate game. I just don't see why there aren't more pirate games. It seems like such a deep well that I don't understand why it's been so rarely tapped over the years. Black Flag flirted with it, but that wasn't really a proper pirate game despite the backdrop, and Sea Of Thieves is a cartoony take on it - whys nobody making a realistic, historical epic?
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Jon Cheetham
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Jon Cheetham »

There's an idea I'm down with. The New Devon stuff in Uncharted 4 was cool.
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Miririn
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Re: The Sony news and discussion thread

Post by Miririn »

My friend suggested a Naughty Dog superhero game (like the superhero/villain cards you can collect in TLOU2) and I think that could potentially be amazing.
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